With a strong festival reputation preceding it, Censor is an intriguing film set around the real mid-80s controversy over video censorship, as an emotionally-closed ratings board worker' sister goes missing and her sense of reality starts to crumble. From its well-realised 80s mise-en-scene to the clever shifting of screen aspect ratios, this is a very well-made film with a an engaging central performance from Niamh Algar which portrays the protagonists's life as a sombre Kafka-esque nightmare in an alienating and alienated world that sees reality and video fantasy bleeding into each other with horrific results. The film also does a good job of reflecting the then-Government's (and tabloid) hysterical viewpoint of horror fans being undiscerning and unintelligent as well as the responsibility held by the nation's appointed moral guardians.
